Many athletes believe that push-ups on the uneven bars are a traumatic exercise, but also effective. Find out how push-ups and bodybuilding progress are related. Insufficient shoulder strength is often the main reason for stunting progress in chest muscle development. Taking the bench press as an example, it is more active in the upper back, triceps and biceps. Of course, when performing this movement, the muscles of the chest also take part, but the load on them is significantly lower.
However, when at least one of the muscles is not sufficiently developed, then the muscles of the chest will be deprived of the load that they could count on. As a result, having reached a certain level in the bench press, most often it is from 80 to 85 kilograms, you will not be able to overcome this mark. Only after the muscles in the shoulder region have gained enough strength can you budge.
Of course, to achieve this goal, you do not need to work on each muscle separately. Firstly, it is not practical, and secondly, when performing any movement in order to achieve maximum results, all muscles must work harmoniously. One exercise known to all athletes will help to achieve this - push-ups on the uneven bars.
You may even be surprised how strongly push-ups and bodybuilding progress are interconnected. But it really is. As you begin to progress in push-ups, the performance will increase significantly in the bench.
Technique for doing push-ups on the uneven bars
You need to sit on the uneven bars on straight arms, but at the same time do not unbend them strongly. It is best to use a neutral grip. Take a deep breath, bend your elbows and slowly lower yourself. The depth depends on the strength of your muscles. When returning to the starting position at the moment of passing the most difficult point of the trajectory, you should exhale.
When performing push-ups on the uneven bars, the athlete can focus on the triceps or on the chest muscles.
Emphasis on triceps
It should be said that the classic push-ups on the uneven bars are designed to develop exactly the triceps. This muscle has three sections and is located between the elbow and shoulder. All sections of the triceps - long, middle and lateral - work only with elbow extension. To increase the load on the triceps, the arms should be placed close to the body. When performing the exercise, make sure that the elbow joints do not spread apart and are directed backwards when bent.
Keep your legs straight with your chin up and not leaning forward too much. It should also be said that with a large distance between the bars, part of the load will go to the chest muscles.
Emphasis on the chest muscles
With a slight change in the technique of performing the exercise, most of the load will already fall on the muscles of the chest. It should probably be recalled that the major pectoral muscles are the pectoralis major muscles. They cover the entire surface of the chest, from the collarbone to the sternum, and are attached to the bones of the shoulders. The main task of these muscles is to bring the arms in front of you, as well as rotate the upper arms.
To emphasize the load on the muscles of the thoracic region, there are two options for performing the exercise. You can move the elbow joints apart while moving downward, while bending the knee joints and leaning forward. You can also increase the width of the grip, for which you should use the divorced beams. The distance between them varies from normal to wide.
You need to take from the wide side, which will automatically spread your arms to the sides. But it must be remembered that an overly wide grip can lead to injury to the shoulder joint. It is also possible to shift the emphasis from the thoracic musculature to the lats, large round and lower pectoralis major muscles. The most acceptable option is to use a grip of bullshit wider than the shoulders, while the elbow joints should be diluted at 45 degrees in relation to the body and no more.
How to optimally fit push-ups into the training program?
It is important to remember about the relationship between dips and bodybuilding progress. Even in cases where you have little time and there is a need to shorten the training program, you should not give up push-ups on the uneven bars. For beginners, this exercise is best done at the beginning of a training session, since there is still a lot of strength at this time. It takes a lot of energy and high coordination to do push-ups. At the end of the lesson, beginners will no longer be able to perform the movement correctly.
Experienced athletes can do push-ups at the end of the chest workout or before pumping the triceps. Remember that the classic bar push-ups are designed specifically for the development of the triceps. If you do the exercise at the beginning of the "ore" day, then you will load the triceps, after which it will be quite difficult to perform the bench press in the prone position.
If your chest muscles are already very well developed, then you can do push-ups at any time during a training session. In this case, be guided by your own priorities. For example, many weightlifting and powerlifting athletes do push-ups at the end of the session, as in most cases their priority is to lift their maximum weight. Push-ups in this case are considered as strengthening the triceps and increasing the flexibility of the shoulder joints.
Most often, the optimal number of repetitions is 8-15. Take short breaks between sets. After you begin to perform 15 repetitions, then you should start using weights. It should also be remembered that push-ups are auxiliary exercises, in which the number of repetitions should be 3 or 4 more than in the main ones.
See clearly what nuances will help you focus on the load on the triceps and chest in this video by Denis Borisov:
